


Sweet Surrender

by orphan_account



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: 3DMG love, F/M, One Shot, Reader Insert, accidental straddling, idk man I just love Levi, lots of references to brats, other "unavoidable" issues, was going to be longer but I've stopped writing I i
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-04
Updated: 2015-01-04
Packaged: 2018-03-05 08:42:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3113384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The year is 849. You've been a member of the Recon Corps for three years now and you love it, despite accidents with your hair, exposure to death and Hanji's experiments. The only person you cannot stand on the corps is one Lance Corporal Levi. Unfortunately, avoiding Humanity's Strongest Midget is itself unavoidable. For you, especially. </p><p> </p><p>One shot. Title comes from my favourite song 'I Don't Want To Miss A Thing' by Aerosmith.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sweet Surrender

The first lights of dawn were breaking when you awoke. The windows were illuminated with the daybreak and the curtains fluttered in the wind. You always left the window open slightly at night to let the air in, even though it annoyed your roommates. That was the one of the best part of being in the Recon Corps. You could breathe the free air whenever you wanted. 

You had been a part of the 101st training squad three years before, but crippling flu had prevented you from completing the final exams, so you had had to stay an extra few months in the gruelling military training, joining the 102nd squad to keep yourself in shape for the final exams. 

It had been even more irritating as you would now never know who won your bet. One of the members of your squad, Bartlen, had been competing with you for the top spot in the class the entire time that you'd been training. Your skills with the 3D Manoeuver Gear were equal to Bartlen's, if not better, and you had been looking forward to finding out once and for all which of you were on top. 

But due to the flu hitting you, you'd never gotten the chance. You were ranked, but not as a part of the 101st nor as part of the 102nd. The training supervisors had assured you that, if your scores were on par with those in the top 10 of the class, you would be granted the same privileges as them. In short, you would have the opportunity to join the military police. But you were never sure that that was where you wanted to go.

You had humble beginnings from a small town just outside of Wall Rose and thankfully, your village was one of the first to be evacuated into Trost when Wall Maria fell. You'd been in your second year of military training when it happened. Your parents had survived and were living in Wall Rose's inner district. Your father's profession as a professor had helped keep them on their feet. They worked for a rich baron in a large house; your father taught the baron's three sons and his daughter. They were safe. Bartlen was safe too. He'd joined the police and you hadn't heard from him in a year. It figured. 

Safe was a strange concept to you. Your first mission outside the walls had shaken you up so much you'd not spoken to anyone for half a month. Only Squad Leader Hanji had cheered you up that entire time. You'd been one of the few that were truly interested in Hanji's experiments. Over time, you too had begun to see the Titans in a different way. You'd convinced yourself that there had to be more to them than just killing machines. You often helped out Hanji with the paperwork to take some of the pressure off Moblit. The poor guy tore his hair out every day being Hanji's assistant, so doing some of the paperwork for him was the least you could do. 

There was only one person you hated working for. Levi. Lance Corporal Levi. The most arrogant person you'd ever met in your life. He was three inches shorter than you yet he still managed to look down on you. And you were doing chores for him today. You groaned and rolled out of bed. Your hair was a mess. You reached for your gear and top sleepily. 

The person who designed the emblem for the Wings of Freedom had your personal thanks. They just felt...right, sat upon the back of your jacket. You began to pull your hair up into a ponytail, before hesitating. It had gotten caught in your gear the day before. Not whilst doing an operation, thankfully, but it had been scary enough. You decided to make a quick stop on your way to the stables. 

"Squad Leader Hanji? Are you there?" You knocked outside her door. 

"Mmaakshh.." Came a sound from inside. You hesitantly opened the door. 

"Snaffuuu....nape...titan.....shhh, Moblit..." Hanji was face down on her desk, murmuring into the wooden table; she was still dressed in her gear from yesterday and her head was resting on a pile of papers. A small pool of saliva was next to her mouth, smudging the ink more as she snored and let her breath move the puddle slightly. 

You glanced at the clock. Shouldn't she be in a meeting with Erwin? Your schedule with Levi that day had been worked around that. Hanji was probably expected at it too. 

"Um...squad leader?"

"Hnnnn..huh? AH!" Hanji screamed as she woke up. "Oh, it's you, ____." She whistled out in relief. "If it had been shorty, I would be in deep shit."

"Uh, squad leader, aren't you meant to be in a meeting with the commander and shor- er, Captain Levi right now?"

"Meeting?" Hanji furrowed her brow. She stayed like that for a few moments before her facial expression changed to one of panic. 

"MEETING!" She screamed again so loudly you recoiled. She scrambled to grab her glasses and the pile of papers quickly became scattered. She ran for the door before turning back briefly. 

"Uh, what did you need?"

"I-I just wanted to know if you had some scissors."

"In the desk, I think." Hanji replied. "Although...I'm not sure."

"That's fine, squad leader. I, ah, won't keep you."

Hanji sighed in relief and set off down the corridor. You heard her crash into one or two things as she did so. The squad leader was an excitable person. It made you smile more often. In this world of death and despair, Hanji's attitude and excitability was certainly prominent. 

You found the scissors in the second drawer down and quickly proceeded back to your own quarters before looking straight at the mirror. You didn't particularly want to do this, but you didn't feel you had much choice given what had happened the day before. 

You raised the scissors to your long hair and began to snip. 

~

"You're late, brat." Levi didn't even glance up as he sat adjusting his gear. 

You grimaced. Sorting out your hair had taken longer than you'd expected. It had been going well until your hand had slipped and much more had come off your left side than you'd intended. You'd had to then meticulously even it up, with one of your team helping you with the back. 

In the end, it looked even. The only issue was that it now was short. Very short. Through your own stupidity, you had given yourself a pixie cut. The only part of your hair that could even be considered reasonably long was your fringe, which was longer than the rest of your hair. It managed to pass for girly, but only just. 

"I-I'm sorry, Captain."

"Tch. A team leader should know better. Consider yourself on stable duty for the day. We have a mission to prep for and the brats under your command should be under someone who can organise herself."

"Yes, sir." You said sheepishly, shoving your fringe to the side of your face. Your side parting actually made it work well. Levi glanced up from his gear and his eyes widened. 

"Brat, what the fuck have you done to your hair?"

You felt your cheeks going red. 

"I..I cut it, sir."

"Why?"

"It was getting caught in my gear, sir."

"So you elected to look like a six year old boy?"

You resisted the urge to scowl. If he wasn't your superior, you would have quite happily smacked in his midget face so hard he wouldn't be able to talk for a week. You pictured it in your mind to distract yourself from the appealing urge to do so. 

"It wasn't intentional, sir. It went a bit wrong."

"A bit? You think so..." He sighed exasperatedly. "Go and shovel some shit, brat, then report back to me later. We need to go over the plans for tomorrow's operation."

"Yes, sir." You mumbled dejectedly.  
As you left, you turned back briefly to look at Levi. You could have sworn that as you turned he had a slight smirk on his face, but as you looked at him face on, all he did was narrow his eyes. 

~

Stable duty was the worst. Luckily for you, you liked the horses a lot, so you at least got to talk to them as you shovelled. After finishing your duties, you went to the supply shed. There were woods next to the headquarters and they were frequently used for 3DMG training. You had not used your gear for a week now due to the prepping for tomorrow's mission and you missed it immensely. 

Even though it didn't look strenuous to the observer, 3DMG was tough on the body. It took a lot of strength to move around with it. You were proud of how you'd built up your muscles over your years of training. 

It had been four years since Wall Maria fell and three years since you'd joined the scouts. The fact that you'd survived that long was a miracle. You'd become a team leader under Hanji's command last winter and you liked working with the eccentric squad leader.

You strapped on your gear and adjusted it before heading to the woods. The moment you reached the trees and engaged your 3DMG, you felt free. 

The wind rushed over your face, feeling cooler on your scalp due to the lack of hair. Your fringe fluttered slightly as you flew around the trees. You didn't want to waste gas, but you did a quick somersault in the air. Things felt like they were in slow motion as you span around and around. The trees became a pine green blur as you flew through the cool air of the afternoon. The green blur melded slightly with orange as the setting sun broke through the tree line. 

The best thing about the Recon Corps was not the ability to breathe the free air outside the walls, not the experiments with Hanji...it was the consistent use of the gear. It made you feel something that would never compare with anything else.

It made you feel...alive. 

~

After a while, your muscles began to ache from the continuos use of the gear. You didn't want to strain yourself too much, after all, not with the mission the next day, so you decided to head back towards the headquarters. Dinner would be starting soon, and you never liked to miss a meal. Especially not before a mission. Any meal could be your last. 

The sun crept further and further down the sky as you neared HQ. You span and turned, going high and low before doing one last leap above the top of the treeline. You somersaulted in the air, once, twice, three times, closing your eyes and feeling nothing but the wind in your hair, the cool metal of the gear in your palms and the distant warmth of the sun on the back of your eyelids. 

"BRAT."

Captain?! You opened your eyes and found yourself falling back to the ground. You managed to steady yourself with the gear slightly but still landed heavily on a tree branch. At least you thought you'd landed on a tree branch. When you opened your eyes, you were looking straight into the face of Lance Corporal Levi. Your body was sprawled horizontally against his and he was clutching the tree branch to keep you both upright. 

"S-sir?"

"Off me." Levi breathed a little more quickly than you'd imagine. "Now!" 

You scrambled to get upright but ended up having to grab the tree to balance yourself as you began to sit up. You looked down at yourself. You were essentially straddling Levi. He looked at you with a strange expression. It was annoyed, but not annoyed at the same time. Was it possible that he was...enjoying this?!

You hurried to your feet feeling incredibly flustered and stood on the branch. Levi got up quickly and grabbed you by the straps on your front, pushing you against the tree trunk. 

"What. Are. You. Doing?" He hissed. 

You were in deep shit now, you realised. You'd missed reporting back to him as you'd been so lost in using the gear. And you'd straddled him accidentally. Another point in your 'Great Decisions' book. 

"I...I was practicing for tomorrow, sir. I hadn't used my gear in a while."

"So you thought you could just skip out on our meeting?"

"I'm sorry, sir." You muttered.

"Stable duty for a week, ______."

Oh, so he remembers my name now? You thought angrily. After three years of 'brat', he remembers I have a name?!

"And don't let me catch you disobeying commands again. I am not that freak, I won't let you off." Freak?....oh. He meant Hanji. 

"Apologies, sir. It won't happen again." You said quickly. Your cheeks were still burning. 

"It had better not happen when you're on my squad tomorrow, _____."

"Hng?" A choked startled noise came out of your mouth. "Your squad, sir?"

"Petra is ill and is on strict bedrest. Hanji spoke to the commander and they decided that you should fulfil her duties during tomorrow's mission."

Hanji did that for you? You resisted smirking at Levi's sullen expression. You'll have to suck it, midget bastard. You grinned internally. Squad Leader Hanji and the Commander evidently were confident enough in me to let me lead more people and be first choice, so you can get off your fucking high horse. 

"What are you looking so happy for, brat? You're still on stable duty for a week. That is, assuming that you survive tomorrow's operation."

"I intend to, sir."

"Hm." You thought that he frowned, but it was kind of hard to tell as he always looked annoyed in your opinion. 

"0500. Don't be late."

"Yes sir."

"Back to base. Now."

You nodded and followed him back to the headquarters. He gave you a strange look, like he was trying to figure you out. You gave him a small smile and, rather than frown, he smirked slightly. He probably thought you hadn't seen it. When you fell asleep that night, your thoughts inconveniently drifted to Levi. Levi and your accidental straddling of him. How his breath had smelt like that tea he sometimes made you make. How he had looked at you with that expression. 

Stop thinking about that. You hate him, you reminded yourself. Don't you?

But that little smirk he'd given you...maybe he did find your company tolerable. Now that, you could certainly live with.


End file.
